Holden Sandman Poised For A Return?

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Back in the mid 1970’s, Holden introduced a panel van known as the Sandman. It was essentially a Holden HQ Kingswood (Oz’s version of an El Camino for reference) and it incorporated many features found in the sporty Monaro at the time, including sports instrumentation, sports steering wheel and bucket seats, and “rally” road wheels.

The Sandman has become sort of a cult-classic in Australia, and a new report from CarsGuide names the Sandman as on track for a 2015 reintroduction.

The groovy utility vehicle will become a variant of the VF Holden Commodore according to the report, with confirmation coming from an unknown source who attended the Red Lion event, which saw the confirmation of newly minted Mark Bernhard as Holden chief.

The Sandman badge will most likely be used in conjunction with the ‘Ute and Wagon variants of the VF Commodore, but reviving the nameplate is something Holden could desperately use as it faces poor public perceptions while the company winds down manufacturing.

It most likely won’t look as funk-a-licious as the Sandman pictured, but it’s a nameplate many Aussies keep dear to their hearts.

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— Sean Szymkowski

Sean is a lead staff writer for GM Authority. The words above are fueled by passion and large amounts of caffeine. Find him on Instagram: @helloimseann

I would love to add that I am also very appreciative of the time and effort you put into this blog Sean. I know it might not seem it at times as I am very pro local industry but i have enough insight to know its not up to you! Hope your having a good week mate.

We love knowing what we produce is appreciated in all corners of the globe, and these compliments are humbling. I don’t think any of us here at GM Authority are happy Holden manufacturing is being shut down! All the best!

It seems unlikely. This sounds like something that got CAD’ed up as part of the Mark Reuss plan to keep Zeta alive as a legacy car with one plant in Adelaide continuing to ship VF/SS as a Chevy global flagship until Alpha could be watered down globally.

It does not make sense to roll this out in late 2015 if you’re just going to shut the plant down in a mere 18 months.

Now, do I think it would sell? Of course. I think we should be able to buy El Camino’s over here… and I think GM should be running issue ads reminding people of the impacts of CAFE standards on what they can, and can’t, buy in terms of cars.

If Detroit wanted to, it probably could crush CAFE in one election cycle if it put its mind to it. Sadly, I think the industry profits more from CAFE than it likes to admit, in the form of higher MSRP’s and less competition.